NYSE chief John Thain would like to see former Chairman and CEO Dick Grasso fork over some of the dough he left with, Thain told reporters yesterday.

Thain said he would like to see the NYSE obtain a “very substantial return,” on the “excessive” compensation Grasso received, Dow Jones Newswires reported.

New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer has contacted senior executives at the Big Board to tell them he is preparing a suit against Grasso and the former board for breach of fiduciary responsibility, sources close to the situation told The Post.

The attorney general has been encouraging them to get Grasso to hand over some of the money or face a potentially ugly legal battle. Grasso’s lawyer did not return a call for comment.

Thain’s recent statements appear to be a deviation from the past, when he has refrained from commenting on what he thought should happen regarding Grasso’s controversial pay.

At a press conference in February, Thain explained that the board had passed the report to the SEC and New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, whose office has jurisdiction over not-for- profit institutions such as the NYSE.

“It is more advantageous for them to pursue this case than it is for us,” Thain said at a news conference after an exchange board meeting. “We have no plans to bring an independent suit,” although he did not rule out the possibility of later joining regulators’ legal actions.